Easton Sports, Inc and Riddell Bell Holdings will merge to become Easton-Bell Sports, Inc. The combined company will generate more than $600 million in annual revenue, hold leading market positions in baseball, softball, football, hockey, cycling, auto racing, and snow and motorcycle sports, and will maintain its state-of-the-art R&D efforts. Easton’s Chairman, Jim Easton, will be the Chairman of the Board of the combined company. The combination is expected to close during the first quarter of this year.

“Easton-Bell Sports will remain committed to energizing our brands through great products, strengthening all our current channels of distribution and customer relationships, and driving athletic performance through product innovation,” said Easton.

“Easton Sports has an 84-year tradition of leadership in technological equipment innovation,” said Easton. “This tradition includes many innovations in baseball, softball, hockey and cycling that have helped athletes perform to their best potential. The brands of Riddell Bell Holdings – Riddell, Bell and Giro – are all brands that are built on the same foundational values of innovation and quality that we have at Easton Sports. We will both strengthen our authentic brands and retain existing brand names on current products. It’s an ideal fit and provides exciting organic growth opportunities.”

“The combination of our two companies will create a best-in-class sporting goods company with leading market positions in several unique sports,” said Tony Palma, Easton Sports’ President and CEO. “We look forward to working with the Riddell Bell Holdings team to develop a cohesive company powered by innovation that will continue to provide new technologies in each sport in the sporting goods market.”

Bill Fry, the President and CEO of Riddell Bell Holdings, added, “This combination will create a powerful industry leader. We will gain valuable experience through combining Riddell Bell and Easton. The many complementary skills will create opportunities to excite our customers with game-changing new products.”

“The combined R&D efforts of both businesses will be unsurpassed in the sporting goods industry,” added Bill Sherman, President and CEO of Riddell.